Sense Me Senseless
by Ephemeral Lunatic
Summary: Beckett helps Castle solve a little mystery the morning after. Post-Always. One-shot.


_Gently, the rain sings for me_  
_ My future cannot see_  
_ From now on_, _I know that things will go well_  
_ My new oath spreads its wings __and flies a long way_  
_ I keep on going, now I know what to do_

_- HOLSTEIN_

* * *

Her eyes slowly flutter open to the sound of light rain and a mixture of darkness and the smallest hint of city light cast through the windows of Richard Castle's bedroom. The sight of her surroundings isn't the first clue to remind her of where she is and how she had gotten there. That would be the smell of the room; his scent mixed with the subtle aroma of rainfall that has somehow snuck its way into the loft, perhaps through an air vent or a draft from a window not fully closed. The smell of it all is everywhere around her, engulfing her, bringing back memories of the previous night, that one simple sensory input making her feel safe, relaxed. Loved. So loved.

She burrows into her pillow, snuggles beneath the sheets of his bed, the soft and luxurious feel of the Egyptian cotton against her bare skin warming her, putting her more at ease as memories play like film reels on the backs of her eyelids. She winces a little, her battered muscles from the fight with Maddox coupled with the pleasant ache between her legs causing her a mild amount of discomfort when she shifts or moves, so she lies still.

—until she registers that something, or rather someone, that should also be warming her in this bed does not appear to be present at all, despite the familiar scent of him surrounding her at every angle. She'd fallen asleep in his arms but now he's...where?

She slides her hand over to the empty space beside her, the sheets pulled up but vacant beneath. He must have tucked her in when he got up. It's barely warm now on his side of the bed. He's been gone long enough for the sheets to cool considerably, but not enough to erase the evidence of his presence being there however long ago.

She lifts the sheets along with her, keeping them snug around her body with one hand as she moves to sit up. When she turns her head to look around, she catches the reflection of his eyes in the dim light peeking through the sheer curtains of the windows behind her. A flash of distant lightning from the storm that has been on the move as they'd slept, lights up his face briefly so that she can see the ocean blue of his eyes. Then darkness falls upon the room again and she's left with only the sound of rain drops falling until, at last, he speaks to her from the couch beside the bookcase that serves as a wall separating his room and office.

"I must have spent about fifteen minutes sitting here, watching you sleep, just trying to decide if you were real. Even now I'm not so certain."

She smiles fondly at him as she shifts to face him, her hand clutching the sheet up to her chest, not to shield him from viewing her naked body—why bother, when he'd seen all of her, touched all of her, everything laid bare for him last night—but to retain her warmth in the early morning chill.

"How can I help you solve this mystery?"

A glint appears at the corner of his mouth, the light catching on his teeth from the half-grin he gives her as he stands, makes his way toward her. She swallows hard, watching his every predatory-like move.

"Well, you look real," he says with a smile, then crawls up the foot of the bed, sidling up next to her. He sets a hand on her shoulder and she follows it with her eyes as he lazily drags his fingers down, trailing them along the outside of her arm and down to her elbow.

"Feel real."

Giving her a small tug forward, he leans in to meet her, places a soft, open-mouthed kiss upon her bare shoulder, his tongue reaching out to touch the smooth, cool skin beneath his lips. She shivers, her shoulders hunching up as she tilts her head toward him, her body gravitating to his as if pulled by some inexplicable magnetic force between them. Her breath quickens as he laves at her skin, softly humming to himself.

"Taste real," he murmurs against her skin, and lifts his eyes to catch the darkness of hers boring down and into him. She wants to kiss him. She wants _him _to kiss _her_, hard and fast, of that much he is quite certain. But no, _patience, Kate,_ his eyes tell her, and undeterred from her beckoning gaze, he remains steadfast in his exploration of her body, his investigation of her existence before him.

He buries his nose in her hair, just beneath her ear, then curls his hand at the opposite side of her neck to pull her even closer to him. Her eyes snap shut and her deep inhalation matches his own as he breathes her in, taking in the delectable scent of her. Not cherries this time, but still sweet. Cocoa butter, maybe, he thinks.

"Smells out of this world, but that's nothing new," he says amusedly, and she flushes as he drops a kiss to her pulse point, sucking lightly at the skin above her fast beating artery. Rain soaked as she may have been when she first showed up on his doorstep hours ago, she still tastes positively divine to him.

When he pulls away, she shivers, his mouth leaving goosebumps on her skin in its wake. She shifts to move into him again, seeking his warmth, but he settles his hands at her hips, holds her at bay and looks her over. She's so hot and bothered now and he finds it adorable and so terribly arousing, but he's still not finished yet.

"Let's see," he muses, his thumbs digging into the sheet covering her hip bone as they press and twirl in firm circles. "What's left to explore with? Mm, sound, I think."

He's teasing her and enjoying doing it, this slow and completely unnecessary seduction. She knows what he's doing, can tell, but god if he doesn't stop it right now and give her what her body is yearning for, she's going to lose it. She wants him. It's been four years and now that she's had him once, now that he's _hers_, she'll never get enough of him.

She _needs _him. She needs him again _now_.

"Castle," she rasps and her free hand clutches tightly at one of his wrists, pulling at him.

Once he meets her pleading gaze, sees the way she's silently begging him with her eyes, then he decides enough. He can't refuse her, can't continue to torture her with seductive teasing. Not on this, their beautiful first night together. There will come a time for more foreplay in the future. They've had four years worth already, and that's plenty to go on for now.

"Castle," she whispers again, pleading with him and he smiles affectionately at her.

"Sounds real," he says, cupping her cheek in his large, warm palm and she tilts into his hand, nose nuzzling at his skin as his thumb brushes across her flesh, the tip of it grazing the corner of her mouth. Her lips meet his digit with a kiss, and then the bed sheet falls free from her body when she lets it go in order to circle her arms around his neck and pull him closer to her.

The bare skin of their chests collide, her forehead meets his, and she looks up at him so tenderly that he can feel a tug in his heart from the intensity of it, this unbridled love on display for him, only him.

"So," she starts, and gives him a little nudge with her nose. "I think you've gathered enough evidence with your five senses."

He smiles to that, gives a little nod and gently urges her backward until she comes to rest on her back, her curly mane of tousled hair splayed all around her on the pillow beneath her head. She kicks the sheets off of her legs, allowing him access to all of her, and he's quick to shift between her legs, her knees drawing up and bracketing his hips as she does.

"What are your findings in this investigation, Mr. Castle?" she murmurs, looking up at him from beneath her eyelashes, a hand curling at his cheek, fingers dancing along his jawline. When all he can do is stare wistfully at the sight of her, so suddenly caught up in her beauty and the certainty of her there below him, she gives him another tug on the neck.

"Hey?" she says, and he snaps out of it.

"Sorry. Just...overwhelmed for a second there. You're so beautiful."

He doesn't get the chance to even catch his breath before she's arching up, sealing his mouth with hers. Her kiss is firm but languid, pouring all of her heart into the simple action. She lingers, feathers her lips briefly at the corner of his mouth then pulls back. The only sound for several seconds is the rain softly hitting against the windows behind them and a low rumble of thunder echoing in the far off distance.

"So, did you come to a conclusion?" she asks, stroking her fingers down his cheek. She gives him time though, waits for him to catch his breath, compose himself, find his words. When they finally come, his voice is barely a whisper, and so full of awe.

"Reality is far greater than anything in my wildest of dreams."

Her lips quirk to a smile as she tells him playfully, "I told you you had no idea."

"But I want to," he says, his voice suddenly serious and her gaze upon him softens.

"I want to know it all, Kate. Everything about you, including this," he motions between them with a hand. "Us. I want to know what you like, how it makes you feel. Every little detail."

Her eyes close as she thinks back to a time that now seems so long ago:_ You were a mystery I was never gonna solve_. He wants her story, all of it. The good and the bad, the remarkable and the maddening. She's a handful, she knows she is, but still he loves her.

He's so in love with her.

She snakes her arms out to clutch at his shoulders and tugs him down, pulls him flush against her. He lets his elbows drop beside her head, bearing the bulk of his weight above her. She lifts her head slightly, her lips ghosting across the shell of his ear, then brushing along the lobe.

"You will," she assures him, her voice a breathy whisper into his ear that makes him shudder. "I'm not going anywhere, Castle. We'll figure everything out. Together this time."

"Together," he repeats, and she kisses his cheek, nodding her head.

"But this first." She rocks her hips into his and he groans.

"I like this," he says, and she smirks up at him.

"And I like you."

He presses his mouth roughly to hers, tongue slipping past the seam of her lips. She opens to him eagerly, her hands grasping for his face, her thumbs and forefingers holding him to her by his earlobes as she deepens their kiss.

"I love you, Kate," he says breathlessly into her mouth and she moans, clutching him tighter, closer, as he grinds up against her right where she wants him.

Now she really needs him, can't possibly get enough of him. It will never be enough.

Sensing her desire, or perhaps indulging his own, he aligns himself with her just right. She gasps out an "I love you, Castle," and then he merges them, their bodies coming together as one.

Their investigation of one another continues long after the storm passes.

* * *

_This started from a one hundred word drabble I wrote a little over a month ago and then snowballed from there last night. Thoughts?  
_


End file.
